Description

X4                                                       Sealed Hardcover
Starring the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.  Awesome!!
Writer: Akira Yoshida
Artists: Edwin Garcia & Pat Lee
Inker: Rob Armstrong
Colorists: Stuart Ng, Rob Ruffolo, Ramil Sunga & Alan Wang
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Mike Marts
Cover by: Pat Lee

The X-Men and the Fantastic Four team up with the help of Pat Lee and Dreamwave Studios in this heart-pounding adventure! Can the two teams put their differences aside to stop a creeping menace from outer space that threatens our planet’s very existence? Even as the heroes trek into the stars, the real threat to their mission might just be among themselves! It’s the X-Men and Fantastic Four versus…the X-Men and Fantastic Four?! An unexpected adversary turns Marvel’s two greatest hero families against one another.

Stories/Spoilers
In part #1, In Earth orbit, the NASA space station Simulacra has successfully docked a Mars exploration ship. However something isn’t right with the ship and amid screams from the space station crew, NASA loses contact with it. Suddenly a massive explosion rocks the Simulacra.

The following morning at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the X-Man known as Wolverine is woken up by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Unhappy about being woken at such an early hour the feral mutant answers the door to find the Fantastic Four greeting him on the doorstep. When the Thing quips about getting some coffee, Wolverine slams the door in their faces. Ben opens the door and asks Logan why he has to act like that, he explains that he doesn’t like being woken up early in the morning. When Ben presses the issue he angers Wolverine enough for the feral mutant to attack. The ensuing brawl between the Thing and Wolverine on the lawn attracts the attention of Storm. When the Human Torch tries to explain the situation to her, she suggests that everyone cools down and uses her powers to summon a wind to snuff out the Torch’s flames. Johnny is caught by Nightcrawler who teleports on the scene, but now Johnny is mad and flames on to fight Storm as well. Finally the battle is stopped by the telepathic commands of Emma Frost. She then invites the Fantastic Four to discuss the issue in the parlour.

In the parlour the Fantastic Four explain that they wished to make a personal visit and that they hoped to speak with Charles Xavier about the situation. After learning that Cyclops and Emma now run the school Reed runs them through the problem with the Simulacra. Reed then asks if they can use Cerebra to scan for any survivors as something blocks other scans from detecting the cause of the disaster. After learning the technical limitations of Cerebra, it is suggested that they get a telepath close enough to the space station to scan for signs of life. Emma protests at this idea but Cyclops appeals to her by pointing out the astronauts that are in peril and their families on Earth that deserve to have them come home.

The X-Men offer up the use of their Blackbird jet which is capable of space flight after some modification thanks to the Shi’ar technology within. However it can only seat six people on board. After some consideration it is decided that the Thing and Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four and Emma Frost, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Gambit of the X-Men will go on the mission. Soon the Blackbird takes off and after an uneasy flight they arrive at the space station and dock to it. Using her telepathic powers, Emma detects that there are at least six survivors and that they are terrified. The group proceeds to the air lock with caution. When they open the doors they find an army of Brood waiting for them on the other side.

Next in part #2, Members of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are aboard the space station Simulacra searching for survivors after an explosion on board where they have encountered members of the Brood. Monitoring the mission from the Xavier Institute are Mister Fantastic and the Beast who detect an increase of cosmic radiation similar to the event that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. As Reed explains the space flight that led to the birth of the Fantastic Four, he points out that he and his crew were human and there is no way of knowing how a cosmic ray storm would effect mutants. Reed believes they’ll be fine as long as they return to Earth in time, unaware that at that moment the away team is in the midst of a space station full of Brood.

After fighting off the first wave of Brood warriors, Emma establishes a telepathic link between everyone on the team. While Emma, the Invisible Woman and Gambit go looking for survivors, Wolverine, Nightcrawler and the Thing are sent to finish off the rest of the Brood. When Emma’s team find the surviving members of the crew, they find out that they have already been implanted by the Brood Queen. When they discover this the Queen makes her presence known. When the Queen threatens to implant them as well and conquer the Earth, the Invisible Woman uses her powers to cut off the Queen’s tail, her means of implanting other organisms with her eggs. When the Brood Queen still insists that the human race is doomed, Susan goes into a frenzy and kills the Brood Queen. When Emma later tells Sue that they have to kill the infected crew members, Sue won’t do it, believing that her husband will be able to cure them somehow. When Emma insists, Sue knocks her out with an invisible force field.

Turning off the jammer as the rest of the team joins them, the group learns from Reed that there is am impending cosmic ray storm and that they need to get back to Earth immediately. When Wolverine tries to kill the infected crew, Sue refuses to let him do so either and insists that they leave them behind while they flee back to Earth. As the team leaves the space station they are caught in the cosmic ray storm and the members of the X-Men are affected by the bombardment. The Blackbird then crash lands in the wilderness. When the X-Men emerge from the ship, they have become berserk as well as having been mutated further by the cosmic rays. Wolverine can now stretch his body, Gambit is ablaze with fire, Nightcrawler can turn invisible and Emma Frost is now trapped in a rugged diamond form.

Next in part #3, Following a battle with the Brood in space, members of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men were bombarded by cosmic rays before crash landing in Upstate New York. Now the rest of the two groups are frantically searching for their missing teammates as there is concern how the cosmic rays could affect the mutant physiology of the X-Men. As they squabble over the situation, they are suddenly interrupted when Wolverine’s claws stretch up from the forest and puncture through the Fantasti-Car. They are then attacked by kinetic fire balls lobbed at them by Gambit. They quickly realize that they are being attacked by the four members of the X-Men that were on the mission — Wolverine, Gambit, Emma Frost and Nightcrawler – who have been further mutated with similar powers to the Fantastic Four.

They quickly realize that the X-Men are not in their proper state of mind soon have to fight off their own friends. With Wolverine’s elastic body, Nightcrawler’s newfound invisibility, Gambit’s flame powers, and Emma having been transformed into a She-Thing, the unaffected members of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four have their hands full. During the battle, Mister Fantastic notes how the X-Men all have powers similar to their own, leading him to believe their transformations into the Fantastic Four were not random occurrences. When Sue and Ben recover from the crash they join the fight and assist in knocking out Emma, Nightcrawler, and Gambit, but Wolverine manages to escape.

The captured X-Men are taken back to the Xavier Institute where the others also can use Cerebra to track down Wolverine. In the Beast’s lab, the three mutated X-Men are placed in stasis so Reed and the Beast can work on reversing these radiation induced transformations, which prove to be an easy task as McCoy has the DNA profiles of every member of the X-Men, as well as the new information gleaned from Emma’s secondary mutation. However in the middle of their work they are interrupted by Storm who informs them that a space shuttle has taken off from the space station Simulacrum and is heading toward New York City. On board the shuttle are the crew who have fully transformed into members of the Brood.

Next in part #4, With a space shuttle full of Brood heading for Times Square in New York City, Storm of the X-Men and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four prepare to stop it from crashing in the middle of a populated area. Sue feels bad because she allowed the infected crew members of the Simulacrum to live allowing them to complete their transformation into the Brood because she thought there was someway to cure them. Storm points out that it was a noble cause and that she herself and others have been cured of Brood infections in the past. With the help of the Human Torch, they manage to absorb the heat from the shuttle’s re-entry, and with Storm’s opposing winds and an invisible slide created by Sue, they manage to get the shuttle to land without causing any damage or loss of life.

While back at the Baxter Building the Beast and Mister Fantastic monitor the situation while they try to cure three of the four X-Men transformed by cosmic rays while in space. With a great deal of risk involved, Reed asks the Beast if he wants to do this, but McCoy insists. However it’s a one shot deal, and they are forced to wait for Cyclops and the Thing to return back with Wolverine, the only affected X-Man who has not been captured yet. At that very moment, somewhere in Canada, Cyclops and the Thing have tracked down Wolverine to a cabin in the woods. There Ben jumps out of the Fantasti-Car and engages Wolverine in battle. Although Wolverine has the upper hand with his stretching powers, the Thing manages to grab hold of him and keep him contained long enough for Cyclops to knock him out with his eyebeams.

On their way back to New York City, Cyclops is let off at the scene of the ship while Ben returns to the Baxter Building to turn over Wolverine’s body. However as they begin working on restoring the transformed X-Men, they notice the Torch has fired off a Fantasti-Flare alterting them of trouble in Times Square. At that moment a number of Acanti ships have appeared in the sky just as the Brood begin emerging from the space shuttle on the ground.

Finally in part #5, With an army of Brood attempting to invade Times Square, the combined forces of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are there to try and stop them. However the Brood out number the two teams and they start to get stretched thin. This is because Mister Fantastic and the Beast are busy in the Baxter Building trying to cure Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and Emma Frost after they were exposed to cosmic radiation after a mission in space. After calculating the risks, the two scientsts agree that they must try to restore the four X-Men regarldess the risk. Activating the machines that will purge their DNA of the cosmic radiation, they wait and hope for the best. The first to wake inside the stasis chamber is Wolverine, who breaks free from containment.

Back in Times Square, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four are beginning to falter when they are joined by the Beast, Wolverine, Gambit and Nightcrawler who manage to turn the tide of battle. However this still doesn’t stop the Acanti ships that are over their heads. Beast informs Cyclops that Emma has been cured as well and that she has gone back to the Xavier Institute with Mister Fantastic to resolve this very issue.

At the Xavier Institute, Mister Fantastic has boosted the range of Cerebra allowing Emma to use her telepathic powers on the Brood ships. Using her abilities she conjures up the image of both the Phoenix Force and Galactus, leading the Brood to believe that the Earth is doomed and tricking them into fleeing the planet. In the aftermath of the battle, Emma is reunited with Cyclops and everyone is brought up to speed on what happened. Mister Fantastic apologises to Ben as the method to cure the X-Men cannot be used to cure him, but Grimm is okay with the situation, telling Reed that his day to be cured will come sooner or later. After the clean up effort the Fantastic Four are invited back to the Xavier Institute where they engage in a baseball game with the X-Men. During the game, Sue and Emma have a sitdown and Emma confides in Sue that she has realized the importance of having family.

Hardcover reprints/collects: X-Men/Fantastic Four (2005) Issues #1-5.  Marvel Comics

Sealed Hardcover is bagged and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

First Printing
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Date: 2005
Format: FC, 120 pages, HC, 11.15″ x 8.5″
ISBN-10: 078511520X
ISBN-13: 9780785115205

Collectible Entertainment note: Hardcover is Brand New & Factory Sealed.  Very Fine + condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious X-Men and/or Fantastic Four collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Very Highly Recommended.

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